HOCKEY

HOCKEY; Lindros Moves to Broad Street, Not Broadway

By FILIP BONDY

Published: July 1, 1992

The Rangers, accustomed to losing the big one on the ice, suffered an upset defeat yesterday in the arena of binding arbitration.

Ruling that the handshake is as mighty as the pen, an arbitrator, Lawrence Bertuzzi, decided that Marcel Aubut, president of the Quebec Nordiques, had traded Eric Lindros to the Philadelphia Flyers at 10:30 A.M. on June 20, just 80 minutes before Aubut concluded an equally informal exchange with the Rangers. The rights to negotiate with Lindros, a 19-year-old budding superstar at center, belong to the decimated, last-place Flyers.

"You had three people pursuing legitimate goals in hotel corridors after sleepless nights," Bertuzzi said, referring to Neil Smith, general manager of the Rangers; Jay Snider, president of the Flyers, and Aubut. "They all sort of bumped into each other."

These bumps in the night produced another bundle of dirty laundry and public hand-wringing from the National Hockey League. Bertuzzi, who said he went "batty" from 5 days of conflicting statements from 11 witnesses, amassed 400 pages of handwritten notes based on testimony about the negotiating by Aubut.

Gil Stein, acting president for the league, said there would be no disciplinary action taken against Aubut, who managed to infuriate several team officials during the Lindros feeding frenzy at the N.H.L. meetings in Montreal.

"There is no reason to imagine that something like this could happen again," Stein said. "This was aberrational in nature."

The unprecedented ruling, which could shape the Patrick Division for the next decade or longer, meant that a pack of Flyers was shipped to Quebec and that several big-name Rangers escaped unwanted exile. Specifically, the Flyers sent goaltender Ron Hextall, defensemen Steve Duchesne and Kerry Huffman; centers Mike Ricci and Peter Forsberg, and $15 million to Quebec.

In addition, the Flyers must give the Nordiques compensation equal to a first-round draft pick, as originally outlined in the deal. The teams must agree on this compensation by July 17, or Bertuzzi will decide that matter as well. Rangers Offered Top Stars

According to a report in Journal Le Soleil in Quebec City, which accurately described the Flyers' winning bid for Lindros, the Rangers had offered John Vanbiesbrouck, Tony Amonte, Doug Weight, Aleksei Kovalev, first-round draft picks in 1993, 1994, and 1996, and $12 million. If Vanbiesbrouck was declared an unrestricted free agent, he would have been replaced in the package by James Patrick.

In his eight-page decision, Bertuzzi carefully laid out the events leading to the frantic morning of June 20, indicating that the Rangers had made formal the legalistic framework for a Lindros trade about three weeks earlier. The Rangers, unaware that the Nordiques were close to a deal, lost momentum as financing questions regarding Lindros climbed the Paramount corporate hierarchy.

"I was held hostage in a hotel room working out a deal, and Stanley Jaffe was trying to get in a plane and come to the draft," said Smith, speaking by telephone yesterday from South Carolina, where he was attending the American Hockey League meetings. Jaffe is corporate operating officer for Paramount. "We weren't dragging our feet. There was no hindrance in the corporate structure. We jumped into the batter's box and swung pretty hard. Our offer was the better offer."

According to Bertuzzi, events began to spiral out of control Friday night, June 19. At 5 P.M., Aubut met with Snider to discuss the player and draft components of a proposed deal. By 1 A.M., Aubut delivered a paper on his position to Snider. The Flyer president asked to speak with the Lindros family before completing the deal, but this request was refused.

At 10:30 in the morning, Snider phoned Aubut and accepted the previous terms. The Flyers had become convinced they could sign Lindros, and were willing to gamble. Aubut eventually provided Snider with Lindros's telephone number, a moment that Bertuzzi called "critical" in his decision that a deal had been consummated.

Russ Farwell, the Flyers' general manager, phoned Pierre Page, the Nordiques' general manager, to discuss how Quebec would get the Flyers' first pick in the entry draft that afternoon.

Aubut met with Rick Curran, Lindros's agent, and told him Philadelphia had closed the deal. Snider called Lindros to welcome him to Philadelphia.

But by 11:50 A.M., Aubut was working the phone again, this time with Jaffe, hammering out details on the $12 million element in a Ranger deal. Smith had come to an agreement with Aubut on compensation involving players and draft picks, but the Rangers' general manager was not empowered to make a money offer. No Wrongdoing by Rangers

Aubut, encouraged by an unidentified Nordique executive, tried to back out of his trade with Snider, who filed a complaint with the league that led to the arbitration. Yesterday, Bertuzzi found the Rangers completely innocent of any wrongdoing, indicating they were unaware of the Flyers' specific bid and were not trying to "one-up" Philadelphia after the fact.

"These dealings were consistent with how deals are made in the N.H.L., in a restaurant or in a press box," Bertuzzi said. "Jaffe was fair and proper and above criticism. He had no knowledge of the dealings with Philadelphia. This was just a continuation of previous negotiations."

Bertuzzi said his decision became obvious after he reviewed all his notes this past weekend. "It became black and white -- and orange," Bertuzzi said, referring to the Philadelphia team colors.

About a half hour before releasing his decision, Bertuzzi called the clubs to inform them of the outcome. "When I finished reading the decision to them, it was so silent I thought I was cut off," he said. "It was the conclusion of 10 difficult days. I wasn't about to ask if they had anything to say."

Snider said yesterday that his Flyers were "back at the top of the mountain," and predicted Philadelphia would have no trouble completing a deal with Lindros and his Philadelphia-based agent, Curran, a contract that will probably be long-term and worth more than $2 million a year.

"We were the dark horses because there were two sides saying the Rangers had a deal and just one side saying we had a deal," Snider said.

Lindros and Curran played down a report, included by Bertuzzi in his decision, that Lindros was reluctant to sign with the Flyers. Curran called such past problems between both sides, "a lot of posturing."

Lindros was drafted by Quebec in June 1991, but refused to sign with the Nordiques as he sat out last season, competing in junior hockey and as an Olympic player for Canada last February. He is happy his meandering holdout is near its end.

"My bags are packed for Philadelphia. I'm just happy to get out of there," Lindros said, from Toronto, and alluding to Quebec. "They lacked a winning spirit. I didn't want any part of it."

But it is the Flyers who would seem to be less competitive than the Nordiques after this costly exchange. Team Is Not 'Totally Gutted'

"I don't think we totally gutted our team," insisted Farwell. "We had a line we wouldn't cross. We would not give up Rod Brind'Amour or Mark Recchi. Eric is 19 years old. We don't expect him to come here and play by himself."

Smith gave no indication he would contest the ruling, and Stein said he hoped the Rangers would accept Bertuzzi's decision in good spirit.

"I hope that they view this like being in the seventh game of a Stanley Cup final," said Stein. "Someone wins and someone loses."

After 52 years of Ranger futility, he chose an apt analogy.

Photos: Eric Lindros (Associated Press); Ron Hextall; Steve Duchesne; Kerry Huffman; Mick Ricci (pg. B7); "My bags are packed for Philadelphia," said Eric Lindros, who was happy to be traded by Quebec. (Associated Press) (pg. B11) Chronology: "Tick, Tick, Tick, Tick" Following is a chronology of the final, hurried negotiations at a Montreal hotel involving the Quebec Nordiques, the Philadelphia Flyers and the New York Rangers over the disputed trade of Eric Lindros. The chronology is the basis for yesterday's ruling by the arbitrator Lawrence Bertuzzi, who concluded that the Flyers had made an enforceable deal with the Nordiques. The times are approximate. FRIDAY, JUNE 19 5:30 P.M. Marcel Aubut, president of the Nordiques, meets with Jay Snider, president of the Flyers, to try to convince the Flyers to improve the player and draft-pick components from their earlier discussions. 8:30 P.M. The Flyers make an offer that alters all three components of their proposal, including reducing the money. Subsequently, Aubut makes a telephone call to Ed Snider, the Flyers' majority owner, in Los Angeles to try to have the money brought back to its earlier level. SATURDAY, JUNE 20 1 A.M. Aubut delivers a paper to Jay Snider, setting out Aubut's position on players, draft picks and cash, telling Snider, "This is the deal." 10:30 A.M. Jay Snider phones Aubut and accepts all the terms set out on the paper that Aubut had presented to him at 1 A.M. Snider asks Aubut for Lindros's phone number so that he can call and determine finally Lindros's attitude about playing in Philadelphia. During the ensuing period, Aubt meets with Lindros's agent and asks him to contact the family. Upon being asked "Who is it?" Aubut answers, "It's Philadelphia." In response to the agent's plea, "Why Philadelphia?" Aubut says, "Because it had the best offer." 11:30 A.M. Aubut provides Jay Snider with Lindros's telephone number, and Snider phones the Lindros family. During the conversation, Snider welcomes Lindros to Philadelphia and determins his interest and excitement about playing there. There were discussions on contract negotiations with Lindros's father, setting out procedural conditions for negotiations and laying out the framework for a deal so, the father said, "Philadelphia would know where we were coming from and have an understanding of our expectations." During the call, Aubut visits the Philadelphia suite and asks "Is it O.K.?" or "How is it?" Snider smiles and gives the thumbs-up sign. Aubut leaves before the call ends and asks that Snider call him. 11:45 A.M. Jay Snider meets with Aubut, who now suggests that he is having problems with his board or partners and asks Snider to drop his condition regarding Philadelphia's having to sign Lindros to a contract. In view of Snider's positive phone conversation with Lindros, Snider says, "I'll havbe to talk to my people." At this point, it is Snider's understanding that he has a deal and that Aubutis merely trying to renegotiate, both for the certainty of the deal and to satisfy one of his partners. Snider leaves Aubut's suite to consider droping the contract condition. 11:50 A.M. In a telephone conversation with Stanley Jaffe, corporate operating officer of Paramount Communications, which owns Madison Square Garden and the Rangers, Aubut concludes a deal to send Lindros to New York. This is the culmination of negotiations that had begun weeks earlier and were continued in three morning telephone conversations between Aubut and Jaffe. This was the final call and the moment, both sides say, the deal was actually made binding. It is not clear exactly when the two earlier calls were made, but during all three calls there is no indication that Jaffe had any knowledge of Quebec's dealings with Philadelphia except for the fact that the Flyers were a bidder and had a draft choice in their offer. Noon Aubut goes to Jay Snider's suite and tells him he has accepted an offer from the Rangers, saying his board said he had to take it. Snider responds by saying, "We had a deal." CONCLUSION According the arbitrator, officials from more than one team clearly said that Aubut would permit a team to speak with Lindros only after it had agreed on a deal with Quebec. Jay Snider's acceptance of Aubut's terms in their 10:30 A.M. telephone conversation, the arbitrator said, and Aubut's subsequent provision of Lindros's telephone number are clear evidence of the existence of a Philadelphia-Quebec deal. (pg. B11)